Lesson No. 5a - A Definition of Terms

In a discussion such as this, there may be several definitions to important words. Below are some such words and the definitions that will be used henceforth.

1. Evolution – a process of continual change including both MACRO- and MICROevolution; from a less ordered, more simplistic state toward a more ordered, more functional, more complex state.

2. Macroevolution – evolution at species level; speciation; the formation of new, survivable species from previously nonexistent species; the formation of a new entity from a previous nothingness.

3. Microevolution – a change in frequency of genes within a population (ie. if the most prevalent eye color world wide is currently brown and this changes to green because of any number of events that resulted in the death/extinction of humans with brown eye color)

4. Natural Selection – a process by which organisms expressing favorable traits are better suited for survival (and subsequently propagating this trait to progeny) than those organisms not expressing the favorable trait.

5. Intelligent Design – the theory that an intelligent, directed process best explains the ‘Origin of Life’, no identification of this ‘intelligence’ is provided.